May 2025 – Karla's Cottage

Ahead of the game

By Karla Nathan / May 29, 2025

Boo!

Yes, I do own a calendar. It may still be Spring, but with a busy summer ahead of me, I’m already full tilt into fall and holiday projects to sell in my booth. Gotta have a jump start on those things and be a few months ahead, right?

Please excuse the messy pictures, I didn’t set these guys up for proper pics. They looked so cute as is, sat down where I’d left them to dry, that I took photos of them right then and there. Cluttered background and all.

My buddy, Beth, gifted me a stack of old hankies, most lacy or embroidered. At first, I was going to make ghosts to hang from black umbrellas on the ceiling of my booth, but realized all that lovely lace would be wasted, it wouldn’t have been easy to see up high like that.

The plan changed to making the cutesy spookies into standing ghosties instead.

Then, I figured, they’d need a face. I was going to use a black marker to do those typical blob eyes and open mouths you see on cartoon ghosts. Then switched to a finer point marker and drew pretty faces. That wasn’t quite enough, they needed blushing cheeks. (Pictured with marker and blushed cheeks)

But I didn’t like the way the marker bled. So, another change, I painted the eyes with acrylic paint, staying with black and white.

And maybe some could have green, purple, or blue eyes?

My simple booth decor project soon became an all day painting session. Another reason why making holiday decor months ahead is smart. If I’d left this til the last minute, they’d have missed out on being darling creatures and would’ve spent the after life just as flying hankies.

A graduation day filled with some sushi, venom, and poison ivy, and sunny smiles

family, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / May 26, 2025

Sugarwings is a graduate!

My son flew in from North Carolina for the ceremony and at first wanted to surprise his kiddo. But between me trying to come up with reasons why my excited Grandfairy couldn’t make plans with friends (not being able to say that Adam was going to be here) and the poor graduate feeling like their dad wasn’t going to make it, we relented and let everyone in on the secret.

Which played out nicely for Sugarwings to show off a brand new drivers license by picking him up at the airport the night before the ceremony.

After the event, while other grads were holding arms full of flowers, I gifted my Grandfairy with a box of Lego flowers and after cupcakes that evening the flowers were assembled and started to bloom.

Our day had started with a walk in the dog park, (which we now have to call DP so Sugar doesn’t go berserk when she hears the phrase.)

Typically, I avoid the wooded areas of the park once spring starts to morph into summer so that I escape the poison ivy and bugs. But the waterfalls are a fave of ours and it was a special day, so we braved the perils and decided to go through the woods and down to the water.

Where we found a multitude of snakes! Which was pretty fun to watch from the cliffs.

Until Sugarwings dropped a shoe right into the center of the venomous vipers.

It was a good shoe too. My thought was that the shoe belonged to the snakes now, and it was time to go buy another pair. But nope, the guys had a plan. Both were fishing for the shoe with a long branch. The only trouble with that was Rich’s ten foot branch was poison oak.

Now I really wanted to just let the snakes keep the shoe. But all worked out, we went home, washed our clothes and dogs (personally, I wanted to burn the clothes), had a fun sushi dinner then-

watched our baby officially become a grad.

While the sunshine made a happy face (a bit like Oogie Boogie, a fave Disney guy) through the clouds.

Five years without him

Ryan

By Karla Nathan / May 23, 2025

I wrote this poem for Ryan on the 2nd anniversary of losing him. At the time, it felt like a lifetime without him.

Now it’s 5 years.

Grief never leaves, but it changes. I no longer sob daily, but he is in my mind every single day.

Almost two years without our Ry.

With his hidden strength beneath kind eyes

That had seen cruelty

But instead looked for peace.

He had to change his reality

To put his mind at ease.

A lifetime of struggle, a lifetime of change

A hurt boy, a hurt soul, a new man, a new day.

Carefully controlling the fears, to keep them at bay

Growing into his laughter, his comfort, his space

Learning to allow himself joy in a limited way.

It’s been too long without our Ry.

With his heart so weak, but true.

In his youth they saw that he was shy

But didn’t know he was deep

There was more to him than many knew

The unfairness, the waste, makes me weep

Has it been forever without our Ry?

It seems he was just here with me.

I still see his flashing smile as days go by

And I roam where we walked endlessly.

We could talk about nothing

As we talked of everything effortlessly.

There was more to him than he ever knew

The unfairness and loss makes me weep.

His kindness, his humor, his handsomeness too

Were all beyond where his thoughts could leap.

With torment and doubt clouding his mind

He worked, and he tried, he strived and he cried.

Did he ever feel that people could see

The man he became, the one so kind?

It’s been too long without our Ry.

Without his “I Love You” and a kiss on my head

A quiet smile when he said “hi”

And his warm, loving hugs would begin

The dog’s tiny paws would dance

After work when she heard his car pull in

Almost two years without our Ry

The pain and the loss makes me weep.

No, it’s not easier as days slip by

This is a suffering I’ll keep.

One person’s trash, was thoughtfully shared with someone who think its treasures. That someone was luckily me!

flowers, friends

By Karla Nathan / May 19, 2025

A couple of friends came by to enjoy the exquisite spring weather and have some chicken salad on fresh baked bread with me in my courtyard.

Both brought bags of stuff they had around and wondered if I could use.

Jen’s husband had bought a case of air spray cans meant for cleaning a key board and she asked if I wanted a couple since they’d never use up that many. She’d remembered me complaining about how dusty Good Juju was and that I was worried that my sun catchers would soon become dirt collectors.

It wouldn’t have occurred to me to try spraying the crystals with an air can, but once she mentioned it, I was thrilled with the idea. There are so many things there that could be so much simpler to keep tidy this way.

Shanna had a couple of sacks with her and seemed almost apologetic to offer them. She said they were things her grandma had for years and were in pretty bad shape. My ears pricked up with those words and my heart might’ve skipped a couple beats.

One package was stuffed with pieces of vintage fur, ideal for crafting Santas at Christmas. The other contained all of these millinery floral bunches. One of my favorite things in the world.

See why? These are all perfectly faded and tattered. I see many exciting craft projects ahead for me, as well as clean chandeliers in my booth. Thanks to my pals!

A big surprise

celebrations, friends

By Karla Nathan / May 15, 2025

My birthday was a thoughtful one. My husband planned a surprise party and a bestie offered to host it at her house.

She even baked her mom’s special Italian Cream Cake for me. And it was even better than it looks. My buddies knew about this for a couple months and all kept the secret. I almost blew it by doing yard work all day til 5, then begging for Rich to go pick up a pizza so I could stay home and eat in my Jammie’s instead of going to a dinner reservation at 6.

ooops

Shan’s home has a screened in porch where we took in the perfect, May weather while eating dinner. Then I was surprised again by being showered with bouquets and plants, as well as a bag of vintage goodies from Angie, and a hand made friendship scrapbook compiled of over twenty years worth of photos of people I love.

It was a lovely evening, always is when I spend time with friends.

One more surprise was seeing this painted tin I’d done decades ago for my pal’s mom. It’s now hanging in her own home and I don’t remember the last time I saw it. I was pleasantly pleased to see I still liked it. (Sometimes art of the past can cause remorse.)

There were even balloons! And a banner! Both are happily on display at the cottage. I don’t think I’ve gotten either since I was a kid.

Thank you, Rich, and to all my friends. It was kind of you to do this for me.

Delicious dates

Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / May 12, 2025

How did I go 66 years thinking that I didn’t like dates? I recently discovered that they are one of my very favorite foods after seeing so many reels about how yummy they are and ways to cook with them. Those stories made me think I needed to give the fruit another chance.

I guess I’d only eaten them chopped up in trail mixes and that is a whole different thing. You miss the gooey, Carmel like flavor and texture that way.

When I was visiting my family in Indiana, I decided to try one of those ideas I’d seen online. It was simple, no recipe needed. Slice a date, take out the pit, add a nut and a bit of cheese, roll it in bacon, then cook.

We used Brie and seasoned almonds, but I’d say any number of combos would work, like goat cheese and cashews, or cream cheese and pecans.

I went sparingly with the bacon, about a third of a slice on each wrapped treat. And we over cooked them a tad, because I wasn’t paying attention. But I enjoy a char flavor, so I was happy to have burnt ones.

This is the only time I’ve sampled any of the cooking ideas that I’ve seen, and would probably do it again. And will try a few more ways to prepare dates too.

Although I love them so much as is, that I don’t need to do anything at all with them besides treating them like a piece of candy. And treating myself by keeping them on the counter in a pretty, lidded dish to snack on throughout the day. (I guess those are called candy dishes, huh? Appropriate!)

In appreciation of a generous friend

Books, friends, vintage paper/collage art

By Karla Nathan / May 8, 2025

A while back, Beth gifted me a bagful of vintage paper scraps, odds and ends, plus a pile of delicious, old linens.

Inside the bag of goodies was a book cover she had started but never finished.

There was wonderful ephemera, original and printed along with pages of cardstock she had stamped too.

And the lace!

Oh! The lace!

I see fairiy dresses galore in my future. So many great bits and bobs to craft with.

As a thank you, I finished putting her book cover together into a junk journal she could embellish. The only item I used that wasn’t part of her de-stash, was this Charlotte tag.

I decorated the cover with a sweet button card that was in the pile of never ending, vintage goodness and used the two remaining buttons on it as a clasp to wrap a string around as a closure. It was hard for me to stop at that point. I adore crafting a book, but I wanted her to have fun adding tidbits to the interior.

Thanks, Beth!

Sewing and concrete

antiques/junking, flowers, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / May 4, 2025

For a person who dislikes sewing as much as I do, I end up doing quite a few sewing related projects.

Like these hand made pincushions in vintage vessels.

There is even an entire shelf of sewing related goods. Which I do find interesting. I told myself never try to sell anything I don’t like, because you might just get stuck with it.

There is also a display of pet themed items. More up my alley than sewing. But I sure enjoyed making the pincushions I hope they sell so I can craft more of them.

Another thing that needs to go are these birdbaths. Not because I don’t like them, I love them, and all of the cherubs, to pieces. And it might look like I never sell the angels, but actually, I do, I just keeping buying more. I’ve had a steady stream of concrete statues in my booth since Christmas.

Christmas angels, valentines cherubs, garden statues, I love them for many seasons.

The issue is that these concrete pretties are bad for my torn rotator cuff that I’m too stubborn to have repaired. And my husband pointed out that it isn’t exactly fair to ask him to haul the hefty birdbaths around either. So, I see some rock bottom sale prices coming in the future if I still have them in my booth.

Reasons behind my displays

antiques/junking, Good JuJu

By Karla Nathan / May 1, 2025

It’s that time again!

First Friday weekend is here. Having a larger space to work in has been such a joy. I’m kinda treating it like the back half is my “regular space” and the front half is a jewelry boutique plus a small wall to theme out however I like.

This month, that will is set up for spring weddings. Which is probably a major indulgence of usable space, because just how many wedding gowns do I expect to sell? But they are lovely, and make a beautiful backdrop. I allow myself one corner to simply play with and enjoy, not expecting to get a big profit from the goods.

On the other hand, heck yes, I would like to sell them all! But being reasonable, I know that isn’t going to happen. But I devoted the entire wall to them any way, because well, it’s fun for me to do.

The jewelry boutique portion of my set up is right across from the Wall of Romantic Weddings. It will not get much of a redo each month, because it works so well as is. I rearrange the goods, of course and always bring in new pieces. But the shelves and lighting stay the same.

My main reasoning for leaving the set up as is seems valid to me. My typical goods are cottagey/shabby chic and I figure that if the jewelry is buried in the back amidst that, many people who love jewelry, but don’t like cottage style, might walk right on by and not see the jewelry mingled with the rest.

Having enough space to set the goods up as if I have two separate booths helps get shoppers interested in the sparkly pretties to stop to look at them. Our mall tends to lean toward primitive and funky stuff, so my jewelry displays could easily be over looked if they weren’t along the aisle.

The same theory goes with the beaded plant stakes and sun catchers I make. Their appeal is more general, so I leave them at the entrance too.

My Royals display is also up front. It did well last month, so I’m giving it another go around. Personally, I’m not a sports fan, but I love the way KC supports its team. Plus, I love blue, but it rarely sells in my space, oddly enough. With its own separate area, it did pretty good.

The sale is this Friday and Saturday at Good Juju in the Old West Bottoms of KC. See you there?